Making a Costume Jewelry Christmas Tree

Well, here we are knocking on the door of another December, and thus another holly jolly holiday season.  So it's high time I share this project with you that I've been working on for some time now.  In truth, this little project is honestly YEARS in the making, though my contributions are much more recent.  May I present to you this costume jewelry Christmas tree made from my husband's grandmother's jewelry.    John has always lovingly referred to his grandmother as "Smith" and I have heard so many stories about good old Smith over the years I almost feel like I knew her myself.  She actually passed away shortly before I met John so I never had the pleasure, but working on this tree connected me in a very special way to her.  

Smith actually started this tree herself many many years ago.  John's parents saved it all this time and presented it to me along with a large bag of her jewelry several months ago, wondering if I might like to finish it.  So this is the "before" picture of the tree as I received it.  It was a large felted cone sitting atop a velvet covered box.  Several pieces of her jewelry already adorned it along with many many hand beaded straight pins and a mix of painted cockle burrs thrown in for good measure. 

This large pin that reads "Mother" was my favorite of the items that were already on the tree.  I actually ended up carefully removing all the jewelry, pins, and cockle burrs to begin with a clean slate, knowing that each of these pieces would find their own special spot on the tree once again as I started rebuilding it.   In fact, I'm pretty sure the "Mother" pin was the first thing I placed back on the tree when I started the reconstruction. 

Here you can see some of those cockle burrs, along with another favorite.  I loved the twisty turns of this watch swagged onto the tree. 

So once I removed everything from the tree, I wrapped it carefully in satin ribbon, pinning it to the tree all the way to the top.  I wanted to use all of Smith's original components, but the tree itself was very old, so the ribbon provided an extra layer of support for the tree as well as a pretty and clean backdrop to begin the process of adding the jewelry back on. 

I sorted all of her jewelry out before I started pinning to see what she had and make a little plan for myself.  She acutally had quite a few Christmas-y pieces like this Santa pin that I prominently displayed near the top.  If you look carefully to Santa's lower right side, you will also see a large gold  pin that reads "Lucille".  That was Smith's first name.  The pin near Santa's right hand bears the initials "DH".  The pin is actually from Deaconess Hospital, but since those are also my (maiden) initials, I worked it in close to the "Lucille" pin.  

I used a grouping of hat pins and stick pins to create the top of the tree.  See the initial "L" pin in the middle?  Another "L" for Lucille. 

I didn't have quite enough of Smith's jewelry to complete the tree, but thankfully John's parents also gave me a bunch of John's mom's old jewelry too.  So I supplemented with some of Jan's things here and there.  The signet pin you see her bears Jan's initials.  I love how this tree connects these generations.  It all started with Smith, sprinkled with some of her daughter's- Jan's- things, finished my me, and one day this pretty little tree will pass on to Lexi- who would have been Smith's great granddaughter. 

And here is the final product.  Just in time for Christmas!  Actually, I finished this tree back in October in time for what would have been Smith's 100th birthday this year.  

She stands nearly two feet tall with the base, but if you are hoping to recreate something similar, you could certainly make it to whatever scale works for you.  Cones in all sizes are available at your local craft store.  And this was actually very very easy to complete. I just used straight pins to attach the jewelry to the tree, so nothing is permanently attached and the pieces are all still intact.  

I'm so pleased with how she turned out.  And honestly, I don't think I will take her down after Christmas.  She is a beauty, made with love, and we will celebrate that year-round.  

Restoration Project: Kitchen Table and Chairs

The time has come.  It is time to finally say goodbye to our counter-height kitchen table and chairs that we have used in our kitchen for many years. Every single niece and nephew who has come to visit us has fallen out of those chairs at some point or other over the years.  John has been ready to replace that set with a standard height table and chairs for a while now.   

So, without further ado, I give you our "new" kitchen set...

Although it certainly didn't start out looking this way, we actually purchased this table and chairs in it's original oak condition from a little junk shop we visit from time to time.  I loved the press back chairs and the table has working gears built into it to allow the table to open for the leaf.  We had a vision for this set, even though we knew it would require a little work.  Enter my handy husband, and this project was completed in a weekend!

We knew we wanted to paint the chairs and base of the table, and stain the table top, but had to settle on colors first.  We decided on black chalk paint with cream colored details showing through, and a dark wood finish for the table top.  Thankfully, painted furniture has become so popular lately that there are a ton of resources out there to guide you on your way, and a ton of stores sell the chalk paint now too. 

Here's a look at the the original base of the table.  Funny story- the table we bought didn't have those nice claw feet, but I wanted them.  About a week after we bought our table, we found a shop selling just a table base with those wonderful feet.  We paid a whopping $20 for that find, and finished off our table base. 

 Here's a closer look at the claw feet.  

...And the original detail on the press back chairs.  Incidentally, this is the only chair with the rounded top so it sits at my spot at the table now.  See the keyhole too?  I love this chair!

All the rest are this style. 

So the work began with a nice coat of cream colored chalk paint as the base coat for the chairs.  The good thing about chalk paint is that you don't have to sand your furniture before you start.  You just start painting.  And in this case, you don't have to be too careful.  We wanted to be sure to get this coat into the detail really well, but knew that we were applying another color over top so it didn't have to be perfect.   Here's hubby hard at work. 

And here's a look at the completed first step.  Notice that he only skimmed over the seat.  Most of that will be covered with the next coat of paint, without a ton of the white showing through. 

Here's another look at the chair in it's first coat of paint.  Oh, and if you only want one color, you could stop here.  Chalk paint doesn't take multiple coats.  But we wanted the white to show through the next coat, so we kept going to the next step. 

This is the chalk paint we used- Annie Sloan's Graphite- to create the black top coat. 

And here is the top coat being applied.  Hubby used a light touch to skim over top of the white, letting it show through in many places, especially all that detail on the press backs. 

It's better to paint it on thinly at this point.  You can always add more to create your desired look, but it's much harder to take it away. 

Same thing as he started painted on the spindles- letting a fair amount of that base coat shine through. 

You can see he also left a few splotched areas on the seat to make it look like it has seen some wear.  

At this point, you can add more of your top coat if you feel you have any areas with too much base coat showing through.  We did that on almost all the chairs until we got it just how we wanted it. 

Here's a closer look at how the chair back turned out. 

Repeat the process for all the chairs and the base of the table.   Easier said than done- not a hard process, but a little detailed. 

The table top was last.  Hubby stained it in cherry and black walnut, and cleared coated all of the pieces several times with a satin polyurethane to add some durability since we will be using this furniture daily.  FYI, most chalk painted pieces also have a coat of wax applied to finish them, but since we clear coated this set, we did not need to complete that step.  Finally, he attached the table top to the base once everything was dry.  

So here's a closer look at the completed project.  He actually didn't sand any of the paint away, although you certainly could to achieve a more distressed look.  Our look is more a product of multiple shades of paint strategically showing through. 

 Here's how those lovely claw feet turned out. 

 Hubby really did a great job!!

So there you have it!  Voila- the finished product- a labor of love.  And we are indeed in love with it.  

And the nice thing about painted furniture is that if you decide you want a different color down the road, you just paint over it.  How's that for options?

One Man's Trash: Child's Playhouse

Folks, it doesn't get much "trashier" than this.  My husband has done it once again, and this time he scored BIG, and directly out of the trash, which means this find ended up costing us nothing at all. Without further ado, I give you Lexi's new playhouse, courtesy of our neighbor's street trash.  

Let's just consider this the before photo, because we have big plans for this sweet little house.  As you can see, one of the windows is in need of repair, and the door is missing its bottom panel.  Let's just say it was in well-loved condition when we found it.  But on the up-side, this house has great bones. It has a large bay window on the opposing side, a working doorbell, and a big open interior.  

I simply must tell you the story of how it came to pass that we acquired this little house because it's quite funny.  We were leaving our neighborhood a few weeks back, and my husband slammed on the brakes and said, "Did you see that little house back there?"  Of course, I hadn't seen it, so he backed up to take a look.  It was literally discarded to the side of the road in a pile of trash and yard rubbish. John asked me if we wanted it for Lexi to use in our back yard, and of course I said YES!!  

The only trouble was it was too big to fit in the back of our SUV, so we went on our way and decided if it was still there later, we would enlist the help of our next door neighbor and his truck. Apparently, it was meant to be because that's just what we did.  This isn't the first time my hubby has scored loot directly from the trash.  He's a junker from way back- he learned it from his dad.  They are the modern day Sanford and Son.  :)

Looks like the girls are gonna have a big time playing in this little house this summer.  Stay tuned to the blog for "After" pictures once we doll it up.  Until then, I will leave you with this little tidbit.  We did a quick Amazon search and found this exact house for sale - for over $1000.  I'd say this is most certainly a case of One Man's Trash....  Possibly our best score to date.  

One Man's Trash: Vintage High Chair

In another classic example of how one man's trash can truly be another's treasure, we find this beat up old high chair in need of some major TLC.  But add a little bit of imagination for what this chair could be, and this deal of the summer turns into a very special piece for our babe.

This is how we found the chair.  You can see years of gunk and wear on it.  It also sported a cute retro decal, which we liked, but in order to restore the chair, it would have to be removed.  

Check out the price sticker too.  Yep, we got this high chair for a whopping $10 at a rummage sale. 

But this high chair has good bones.  The wood is still in great shape, and that tray you see there is bakelite.  Score!!

                             

My handy husband jumped right into this project, using the same type of one step chalk paint we have used before in Lexi's vintage nursery.  Incidentally, this is the type of paint you often see now on restored painted wood furniture.  

You literally sand down the surface to a smooth finish (but no need to remove old paint or wood finish), then start painting on with your chalk paint.  We chose a super light pink blush shade. 

Once it is dry, you can distress areas with your sandpaper if you like. We did on this chair.  We also used a little crackle finish in places to add to the vintage appeal.   

Here is a closer look at the paint, complete with distressed areas, and crackle.  And check out that little cowgirl!  I picked her out myself.  We purchased this inexpensive decal on eBay, but you can also print your own at home with decal paper.  

  

And to finish it off, we added a decal to the back too. This high chair is looking good now, coming and going.  

And as you can see, it is also Babydoll-approved.  

So there you have it.  Another shining example of how you can turn great vintage treasures into something truly special - maintaining the vintage appeal but adding a modern twist. 

Linking to My Thrift Store Addiction Vintage Charm Party.